Terror the While

First National Pattern Confederate flag, possibly captured by the 7th Vermont Volunteer Infantry.

The Bare-Footed Boys.

By the sword of St. Michael,
The old Dragon, through!
By David, his sling,
And the giant he slew!
Let us write us a rhyme,
As a record, to tell
How the South, on a time,
Stormed the ramparts of Hell
With her bare-footed boys.

Had the South in her borders
A hero to spare?
Or a heart at her altars?
Lo! its life blood was there!
And the black, battle grim
Might never disguise
The smile of the South
On the lips and the eyes
Of her bare-footed boys.

There’s a grandeur in fight,
And a terror the while;
But none like the light
Of that terrible smile;
The smile of the South
When the storm-cloud unrolls;
The lightning that loosens
The wrath in the souls
Of her bare-footed boys.

It withered the foe,
As the red light that runs
Through the dead forest leaves,
And he fled from his guns,
Grew the smile to a laugh —
Rose the laugh to a yell,
As the iron-clad hoofs
Clattered back into Hell
From our bare-footed boys.

Published by Christian Clay Columba Campbell

Christian Clay Columba Campbell is a Roman Catholic of the Anglican Use. As Senior Warden of the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Orlando, FL), he organised the process by which the parish accepted the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, petitioning to join the Catholic Church. The Anglican Cathedral is now the Church of the Incarnation in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
Personal queries should be directed to me at eccentricbliss dot com.
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